Sadia’s Journey Of Going Vegan

VEGAN LIFESTYLE: You might be excited to get on the fitness trend of eating healthy with going vegan and doing it cold turkey is something you should reconsider. Start slowly and kill your dairy & meat intake with the vegan options that are around in your town. You should ensure you add more plant-based food to your diet and eliminate the animal products that are non-organic, processed & refined food content.

This should be a gradual process at your pace, it’s not essential that you jump on this and speed up on going completely vegan. The Taj Mahal was not built in a day so don’t expect this to be as quick.

Sadia’s personal plant-based journey

Cheat if you have to it’s okay

Goals for mindful living, fitness and eating is very important and some goals are meant to be shifted in order to achieve them. When you’re like us at Indian Spice – always on the go and sleeping in late sometimes – it’s perfectly OK to eat non-vegan food during the transition period.

You need to remember that you have to stay focused during this transition period. It’s perfectly fine to break the rule and cheat on the diet, you will eventually be on the straight and narrow.

Protein intake

Foods like soy, buckwheat etc contain all nine essential amino acids found in proteins in roughly equal amounts. This helps your body create a “pool” of amino acids from the food you eat throughout the day. So, if you eat oats in the morning, a salad at lunch, and legumes for dinner, your body will pool together all the essential amino acids from these foods and use them as needed to make proteins.

As long as you are eating an assortment of plant foods over the course of a day, your body will take care of your protein intake.

Bowel movements

Bowel actions will change, don’t stress you won’t be dispensing leaves LOL! Don’t fall off the toilet seat if you notice changes in your downloads! Dietary fibre, which is found mainly in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, is most often associated with the prevention and relief of constipation. Fiber includes those parts of plant foods that your body can’t digest and is made of carbohydrates that the body can’t absorb.

Fiber also helps you maintain a healthy weight and lowers the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Food intake will increase and that’s part of the process to be a vegan

Eat a lot of food. This is something you will have to get accustomed to. You will have to increase your quantities when switching over to a plant-based diet since it’s less calorically dense. This is true especially when you focus on whole foods. So, load up on baked potatoes, quinoa, beans, salad and fresh fruit. Eat to your heart’s content and never deprive yourself.

When you shop you will need to read the labels on products

If you’re serious about being vegan, checking food labels and verifying ingredients is a must. Just because a food product is not glaringly non-vegan doesn’t mean that it’s suitable for a vegan diet.

Casein and whey, which come from milk, are present in many cereal bars, breads, and granola, gelatin and tallow are derived from meat. Read the labels carefully before consuming.

Blame the devil for temptation

When you’re on the move, there are most likely going to be stimulants and temptations in the form of animal-based and processed foods around you. In that case, it’s really crucial to be prepared by either having a full stomach or some kind of snacks on hand. Carry along your favorite fruits, nuts, bars, and energy balls for a snack. But there’s surely nothing easier than carrying along a few bananas or apples whenever you’re going somewhere where you are not sure if you’ll get vegan food items.

Meat and milk replacement

Paneer can be easily replaced with tofu and cow/buffalo milk with soy, almond, cashew or coconut milk as it is readily available at most grocers. These would be great stopgap arrangements as you transition to a diet filled with more vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains, combined with the occasional servings of vegan dairy and meat alternatives.

If you look, you will find a lot of vegan alternatives that will constitute for a healthy and exciting meal.

Stay at home if you feel unwell. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority during the coronavirus crisis.